Readability/Usability/Quality 1-00 (March 2000) by Åke Rullgård

Information products, e.g. manuals, drawings etc, must, besides the technical message, contain certain formal data, which too often is left out. Proper formal data contributes to good order and favours the producer as well as the user of information products.

This article wants to stress the need for bibliographical data, i.e. data on document identification, revisions and origin. Lack of such data may cause problems and degrade the quality of the docu-mentation. First, here is an example that shows the need for bibliographical data in a particular case: plant documentation.

Plant documentation contains manuals on installation and maintenance of valves, instruments etc, bought by the main contractor from various subcontractors. Too often these manuals are supplied out of a non-current storage while the components are supplied directly from the production line. Bibliographical data in the manuals are often poor, which results in errors when specifying spare parts, maintenance procedures, etc, because clear specification of valid documentation is impossible. This becomes a great nuisance to the plant owner.

The manuals have been created by technical communicators. My point is that it is the communicator´s responsibility to make sure that the manuals are furnished with proper formal data. The communicators must claim, as part of their profession, that their employers supply a proper system for the formal data.

The following rules apply to the preparation of bibliographical and other formal data in all forms of technical documentation.

 

Basic Rule

Each part of a document, e.g. each page of a paper, must contain all data needed for unique specification of the context where the paper belongs. Therefore, each page in an operator´s manual and in maintenance manuals, etc, must be provided with

• a unique identification, e.g. a document number, set by the original supplier.
• date of issue
• revision code
• origin
• in applicable cases, name of the author
• in case of translation: bibliographical data describing the original document.

 

Page Numbering

Pages need to be numbered so that each page shows the total number of pages that comprise the document, so the user can verify whether the document is complete.

 

Supplier Resonsibility

The supplier of components, valves, meters, etc, must be held responsible for supplying a fully documented manual for each component. By providing proper bibliographical data, the supplier facilitates correct specification of all documentation for the final product.

 

Closing Remarks

It should be part of the professionalism and ethics for all technical communicators to ensure that the above rules are followed in the development of all information products for which they are responsible. The rules can easily be applied and are needed regardless of medium, e.g. in paper-based and paperless documentation. I believe that a standard for formal data should be developed; maybe this could be a task for INTECOM.

I consider the ideas presented above so important that they deserve another item in the INTECOM´s code of good practice:

"11. All communicators shall ensure that their information products are provided with proper bibliographical and other formal data."

I welcome your comments!  

"transline Deutschland - Übersetzungsdienst für technische Übersetzung"